Minister, with a dozen kids?
by EliCa
Summary: Trlawney predicted for Harry twelve children as minister for magic. But how would he get there? Ginny's inspired new career leads to uproar in the wizarding community what will it lead to? Post Hogwarts oneoff fic, with romantic overtones HG and RHr


A/N: A new story – this is a one off, set about three years after Harry's year leave Hogwarts. It charts the progress of the friends in their lives post-Hogwarts, and the kind of encounters they are likely to have as adults in a post-Voldemort world.  
  
'So, later tonight we have Mr Harry Potter on the show, with what promises to be his frankest interview yet! But first, some music from the Celestial Sparklers.'  
  
Harry inwardly winced and started fiddling with the hem of his shirt. This interview with Gerald Hubblebank was promising to be the worst of his life – which was saying something. He had asked himself several times since he had woken up why he was going to put himself through this. Once when he was showering, when his answer was that it was Ron's fault. As he apparated outside the Wizarding Wireless Network's headquarters he decided that it was Hermione's fault. But as he sat in the office chair that was threatening to destroy his spine, it was very definitely Ginny's fault.  
  
Gerald was talking to Harry conversationally as the record played (a bland cover of a classic by the Budgies in the sixties). The aging man's teeth were too white, and clicked as he spoke.  
  
'So how long are you in London for Harry?' Smarmed Gerald.  
  
'I live here at the moment.' There was a pause as Gerald silently drew more information from Harry. 'I mean, I'm staying in the area for only a couple more months before I move.'  
  
'Oh yes?'  
  
'Yeah, I'm going to live in Brighton. It's a great city, not too far from London, but with much nicer views, you know, of the sea and stuff.' Harry knew to be worried as he watched Gerald's eyebrows shoot up at the mention of Brighton. Interesting noises were being emitted from his nose as he scribbled notes down with a handy sized quill that had been in Gerald's shirt - which explained the blue stain spreading just underneath the breast pocket. Harry stared as the ink formed floral shapes, mutating whilst still fresh, and frozen as it dried – crusting slightly at the edges. Gerald caught him staring, and wrote more on the paper.  
  
'Right Harry,' he said, forced to speak as it appeared that the record was winding down. 'Do you think that you're ready?' Harry nodded feeling more than slightly sick.  
  
Three weeks before the interview, Harry was happily celebrating his twentieth birthday with a small group of friends in a muggle restaurant in Hampstead. Ron and Hermione arrived together, currently in an 'on' stage of their tempestuous relationship, and Ginny came with her current boyfriend Dave, somebody who Harry didn't know, but invited out of politeness. Harry wasn't alone though; he seldom was as he had been dating his girlfriend Emma since soon after he left Hogwarts, having met her at Dean and Pavarti's engagement party. It was good that he met her there really, as Dean and Pavarti's wedding didn't exactly happen the way that had been planned, as the two had to elope after Padma continued to viciously heckle for a double wedding (she was engaged to some Ravenclaw that Harry could never quite remember, who was extremely unremarkable; except for his luck in choosing wives).  
  
Harry had never been out of the spotlight, and his birthday was an opportunity for some freelance paparazzi to try and get some pictures of Harry 'at play'. Not that pictures of him eating dinner were particularly exciting, but it was all they could manage to get, and the appetite for information on 'the boy who lived' (or rather 'the boy who defeated he who must not be named who isn't really a boy anymore' as some publications preferred to call him) was insatiable. Plus, for the photographers, taking pictures of Harry was like printing money.  
  
However, the only pictures they printed were when Harry grasped Dave's hand as a greeting, and of the birthday party when Emma and Ginny had gone to the loo together. There were a lot of Harry holding up the pink shirt Hermione had given him, and the occasional glimpse of Harry doing his Lockhart impression as he had to sign an autograph for a little girl who happened to recognise him. The picture of Harry and Dave was to prove particularly troublesome.  
  
When Ron picked up the newspaper the next day before Harry, and read the suggestion that it was perfectly possible Harry had been hiding his homosexual inclinations for his entire life – until now – he snorted. He neglected to warn Harry, who did not read the same newspaper as Ron (well, it wasn't the type of publication that someone with such bad experiences of the press would touch). Therefore, Harry wore the pink shirt to work without a second thought. That was Ron's part in the events leading up to the interview.  
  
The Shirt (as the pictures appeared in the next week's newspaper) was seen at work on Harry, and then on Dave's back. Ginny had seen the shirt at Harry's birthday dinner and bought the very same one for Dave as a little present, just because she liked it so much. She felt that she could afford to spoil those that she loved as she now had a job, albeit not a particularly well-paid one. She was a clerk to a barrister, which was a useful way to earn money before starting her training as a lawyer.  
  
However, the papers did not think that there could be two pink shirts circulating the friendship group, especially after the 'too friendly greetings' between Harry and Dave at the dinner ('It was a handshake!' Harry protested all too often to the many people who were congratulating him on finally coming out in a not particularly accepting society). One week before the present day, Harry had been proclaimed gay by the media. Harry wouldn't have minded too much, if it weren't for the fact that his girlfriend got a little confused for at least an evening.  
  
'Harry', Emma asked, after having consumed a curry that the two had ordered into Harry's flat. 'Are you gay?'  
  
Harry resisted the urge to scream after being asked this question so many times in that day – and he regarded this question from this particular person as a bit of an insult. 'I'm not Emma, no.'  
  
'My last boyfriend turned out to be gay too.'  
  
'I'm not gay.'  
  
'You can admit it you know, I'm not like the bigoted people in the wizarding world. I'm very open actually...'  
  
Harry wondered what she meant by this, but decided not to pursue that line of thought. He preferred thinking of her as simply his pretty-but-slightly- older girlfriend. It made him feel mature. 'I'm not gay Emma, surely you of all people should know that.'  
  
Emma looked sympathetically at Harry, scrutinising his features, and appreciating not for the first time his rugged looks. She smiled, kissed him lightly on the cheek and simply told him that she was there for him. For the first time in many weeks she did not stay the night. Due to the shirt, that was Hermione's part in the fiasco.  
  
Ginny was more direct in her involvement, especially with the arrangement of Harry to be on the radio. She decided that it would be a fantastic start to her career to be involved with Harry Potter's publicity...especially there was a libel case in the offing. She had the lawyer's nose already for a good case, and it unnerved Harry.  
  
'Harry,' she said to him, as they sat in a coffee shop during their lunch breaks 'don't you think that she should start to counteract these claims? After all, they're not true right? After all, I happen to know that Dave isn't gay!' Ginny laughed off the very idea.  
  
'Too damn right they're not true!' Harry started tugging at his hair, 'It's getting worse Gin. Yesterday I had two blokes coming on to me. Plus, I didn't even know that there was a 'Lesbian and Gay Wizards Confederation' – but it's already sent me three membership forms and the opportunity to speak at its annual conference.'  
  
Ginny looked sympathetic. 'Well, that's not too bad is it?'  
  
'That's the good news. I've also had too many threats to count as revenge for being a disgrace to humanity, and I've escaped being beaten up only because I know how to defend myself. You know, I'm not surprised that gay people in the wizarding world are being driven underground. I mean, if I'm nearly being beaten up, and people know that I'm a trained auror, I dread to think what happens to weaker people.'  
  
Ginny's eyes lit up as Harry's head sank into his knees. 'You should spread the word.'  
  
'What?' he said blandly. 'What are you talking about?'  
  
'You should do an interview, tackle the big issues. The only remaining taboo smashed by Harry Potter... that would look good for you.'  
  
'Ginny, I don't care about what 'looks good'. You should know that.'  
  
'Yes I do, but you have to admit that a little media manipulation doesn't do any harm, and if you can help people too. I mean, you just admitted some concern for the gay wizarding community...'  
  
'Yeah, maybe you're right.' Ginny grinned, and sprang up.  
  
'I'll organise everything, don't worry, you'll get an opportunity to put things right.'  
  
Harry got her owl that evening, telling him that he was on the late night show with Gerald Hubblebank the next week, discussing –himself. She also said that she had taken the liberty to donate his appearance fee to the Hogwarts Bursary fund, (which helped the many orphaned and poor children go to Hogwarts). Apparently Hubblebank's show was one of the network's highest rated, as it caught the audience of bored housewives and lonely bachelors. From there, Harry only had a countdown until his appearance.  
  
'How much sex do you have a week?'  
  
'What?' Asked Harry too stunned to answer coherently. Plus, his young mind didn't like putting the words 'sex' and 'Gerald Hubblebank' together.  
  
Gerald grinned and moved closer to the microphone (Harry presumed that the layout of the studio was similar to that of a muggle studio – but he did notice a lack of wires). Around the country, hundreds of witches and wizards also leaned closer to their radios.  
  
'Your sex life has captivated the interest of the nation recently with rumours of you being a homosexual.'  
  
'Ah yes,' Harry interjected before Gerald could continue. 'I know that a lot of people are very interested in that. I would like to say now that I am not gay, and I do have a girlfriend.' Gerald looked as if he was about to say something, so Harry continued talking. 'But the reaction to the notion of me being gay has astounded me, I can't believe how prejudiced the wizarding community remains, even after prejudice brought the tyranny of Voldemort. Gay people aren't disgusting, they just have a different sexual preference.'  
  
'Controversial,' started Hubblebank, but Harry was irritated.  
  
'No, not controversial, not in the muggle world anyway. Individuals may disagree, but not to the extent that gay people are driven underground like they are in the wizarding community.'  
  
'Perhaps so. But I'd like to change the subject now. Everybody would like to know when you're going to ask your delightful girlfriend to marry you?'  
  
And so the interview continued. The fickle world of tabloid journalism, accomplished into fooling itself into believing all rumours it concocted, from that moment switched its interest. Every time Emma was seen on the street wearing a ring (on any finger) – it was an engagement ring. Every time Harry went shopping, it was for an engagement ring (even if he went to a supermarket). The news and pressure every day eventually managed to create a story for that was true. The headline 'Potter and girlfriend split' was caused purely by tabloid journalism, and managed to instil in Harry an even greater loathing for tabloids and journalists. He stopped socialising for two weeks to mope in his flat.  
  
It was on one of these days that Harry's life began to change.  
  
He got an owl from Ginny on Tuesday morning saying that she had resigned from her job and wanted to see him for dinner that evening. The reservation that she had made was for a small Chinese restaurant in north London, in an extremely suburban and therefore extremely muggle area. As far as Harry had noticed, wizards tended to stay out of the suburbs. He was the only one he knew who had grown up in a quintessentially suburban area.  
  
He entered the restaurant, lit with candles and the odd lamp that had been dimmed to such a degree that his eyes were straining to see. A waiter guided him to the table where Ginny was already sat, looking slightly agitated as she concentrated on the menu.  
  
'Sorry, am I late?' He asked, sitting on the chair, wondering why the waiter wouldn't leave him alone.  
  
'He wants your coat.' Harry smiled, feeling a bit stupid as he handed his jacket over to the waiter who dutifully took it away. 'You're not late, I was just early.' She sighed and threw the menu down onto the table. 'I can't even bloody read it, it's just too dark in here!' Harry picked it up and tried to see through the grease stains and dirty laminate to study what the text said.  
  
'Tell you what, I'll have duck.' He said, and Ginny agreed, whilst pouring out some water. 'So,' he said, having puzzled over Ginny's note all day, 'what made you quit your job?'  
  
'I got some news today. Apparently the Wizard's Law Society isn't accepting applications this year, so I am going to pursue a different career path.'  
  
'That's odd – surely they should be trying to train lawyers, not putting new ones off!'  
  
'That's what I thought, but I think that after you-know-who' at which point Harry glared at her prompting Ginny to apologise and correct herself 'after Voldemort fell more people than ever applied to read law there. It seems that they were mostly there to get revenge. A lot of the applicants were relations of people who were killed or tortured by Death Eaters, and they would have been the lawyers appointed by the ministry to represent said Death Eaters. A fair trial it would not have been.'  
  
'Not that the ministry exactly specialises in fair trials though.'  
  
'Thank you Harry, I'm glad that you told me how much faith you had in the system whilst I wanted to be a lawyer.' Ginny said tartly.  
  
'Nothing against you Gin, but I've been on the receiving end of ministry justice, and it stinks.'  
  
'You're also on the giving end though – every day.'  
  
'Well, yes. But being an auror is different. We collect evidence before we strike, and at least we admit that we have a margin of error. Courts can't be wrong, and the way that they have been working for the past couple of decades in the wizarding world is most definitely wrong. It's out of sync with the rest of the country.'  
  
'Which brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about.' Ginny put down the water glass she was holding and looked at Harry steadily in the eyes, forcing him to stop fiddling with the chopsticks he was attempting to pull apart. 'I'm thinking about becoming a journalist.'  
  
Harry looked blankly at her. 'Why on earth would you want to do that?'  
  
'Because I want to bring a bit of enlightenment to the wizarding community. If I can't do it through law, then I'll do it through writing.' Ginny looked earnest, and wasn't surprised to see Harry looking extremely sceptical.  
  
'Are you going to work for the Daily Prophet then, that rag that split me up from Emma? Because if you are, you're going to have one hell of a time trying to enlighten anybody...'  
  
'No.'  
  
'No? You're not going to write for the Quibbler are you?' Harry allowed himself a bark of laughter.  
  
'No.'  
  
'Witch Weekly? Teen Witch?' Ginny shook her head to Harry's suggestions. He scratched his chin, thinking.  
  
'What else is there? I don't know any other wizarding publications really – unless you want to write for The Enchanted Mirror, which is such a rag even Rita Skeeter turned a job down there.' Their conversation paused as Ginny told the waiter, who had reappeared, what they wanted to eat. He left for the kitchen, and Ginny smiled at Harry.  
  
'I'm founding a newspaper to compete for the Prophet's share of the market. I'm going to get the best journalists, the best photographers, and the best news. It will be full of real articles, real comment, and real criticism. There's not way that it can fail. But – there's one problem.'  
  
Harry sighed. 'Money.'  
  
'You've got it. I don't have any, but you do. I'm approaching a lot of people on this, but you're the first. I wanted to use you as a sounding board, see whether you'd support me.'  
  
Harry thought it through. If there were a newspaper with a vested interest in keeping him happy, then it wouldn't be so intrusive into his private life. If it also succeeded then hopefully the appetite for celebrity gossip could diminish. 'Ginny it sounds like a really great idea, and I would love to support you, if only because it's your venture. But if I look at the idea of it from an outsider's perspective...well, you know nothing about journalism. You've never run a company, and I can't think of anything that you do know that could come in useful.'  
  
Ginny smiled, and reached into her bag. She drew out of it a small red book, and laid it flat on the table. Harry picked it up and flicked through it. He recognised every name as some part of the publishing establishment, and was astounded to see that there was an address for owls to reach each of them –which was a prerequisite for sending post to any part of the wizarding well-to-do or the just plain paranoid.  
  
'I have contacts Harry, all of whom are willing to work for me.' Harry grinned at Ginny.  
  
'I think you may definitely be on to something here.'  
  
Ron worked in defence. He was proud of his standing in the division of the Army. He wasn't some glorified policeman, as he loved to call the aurors (especially in front of Harry). He was a proper Army Officer, Wizard branch. It didn't have the long history of most parts of the muggle army, as it had only formed four years ago, to try and coordinate the struggle against Voldemort and his minions.  
  
But as Ron sat at his desk, he knew that he had to downsize. His division just didn't need the arms that he had any more. The budget was stretched to extremes, and Ron was just senior enough to have to make tough decisions recommending what had to be cut. Of course, his seniors did the actual cutting –but they respected Ron's decisions. His strategic brain allowed him to piece together the information before him, and to try and predict what was needed. But, there was the reassurance for him that if anything did go horribly wrong, then the aurors could try and deal with it until the Army got on the scene, which wouldn't have been possible if he were in the muggle Army.  
  
Ron had heard about the business meeting between Harry and Ginny from Harry, and was impressed. His entire family was really, they had all been complaining about the Prophet since his third year at Hogwarts, and the business about Harry's sex life had really cemented his parent's attitudes against the paper. It had also determined Fred and George's attitudes, as they found the whole Harry being gay business so funny that they had also decided that they were going to buy the Prophet every day and actually read it (whereas before they simply used it as packaging for some of their more delicate fireworks that they sent around the country).  
  
But Ron had also heard a rumour that the ministry did not take well to Harry 'looking for secondary employment.' Harry had not, of course, been looking for secondary employment – he was simply investing. But his superiors in the auror division were annoyed with him. There were no formal punishments, or indeed any warnings issued. But Harry had left the office of Edwardo Frank ('The Boss') with the distinct feeling that investing in a newspaper to rival the Prophet was not looked on favourably.  
  
Nothing made Harry more determined to do anything, than being told that he could not do it. Of course, the exceptions were usually things that he didn't want to do – including Potions. But he was determined to help Ginny with this. He was seeing her at lunchtime today in some Café near Marble Arch to discuss the final details.  
  
The café was busy – but Ginny had beaten him to the venue again, and was sitting on a table with two cups of coffee. Harry sat down before he even contemplated queuing.  
  
'I got you a coffee. White with no sugar, right?' Harry smiled at Ginny's forethought.  
  
'Exactly right. Thanks. I don't think that I could have stood in that queue now – just been in to see Frank.' Harry took off his jacket. It was starting to feel a little colder outside now - it was early October.  
  
'Are the ministry not approving my newspaper? I didn't get they feeling that they were.' Ginny sipped her coffee, white with two sugars today. She felt indulgent, and she could only allow herself small indulgences whilst she prepared for the pinch of quitting her job too soon, whilst she waited for the newspaper to get running.  
  
'I think that we're going to have more problems than we anticipated with Chronos.' Chronos was what they (Ginny, Harry, and all of the other investors) had agreed to call the newspaper. Ginny didn't meet with the other investors as much as she met with Harry, which Dave had noticed – but Harry hadn't.  
  
'I have the deputy minister's support. Frederica Gorgie is very much in favour of having a truly unbiased opinion in the media, she thinks that it's dangerous about how much influence the ministry has over the Prophet.'  
  
'Freddie's supporting you?' Harry asked, curious. He had started to get to know Frederica after he qualified as an auror last year. She was a (comparatively) young woman, and something of a liberal compared to the minister brought in to try and tidy up and restore confidence in the wizarding community of Great Britain post Voldemort. 'When did she tell you?'  
  
'I got an owl from her secretary last night, I thought that you'd want to know.' Harry nodded.  
  
'But what about the minister?' The minister was Robert Kretz, somebody Harry had only met twice which was quite a feat considering that they were often working in the same building. Their first meeting was at the dinner celebration of qualifying as an auror, provided by the ministry, and seemingly attended by the entire ministry too (probably because the food was very good).  
  
The second meeting was after Harry's first successful mission to track down Death Eater activity. This mission prompted Harry to write a controversial report about neo-Death Eaters, who weren't dangerous in the immediate fashion of Voldemort's followers, but they held to a set of dangerous ideals that had the potential to threaten the delicate peace in the wizarding community. The report eventually got Harry promoted (hence the fact that he was as often doing paperwork as out 'on a job') – and it attracted the minister's eye. Harry refused to hush up his findings at the minister's request, and they hadn't met since.  
  
Ginny continued talking. 'Frederica made it perfectly plain that she was acting against the minister's wished on this issue. I knew that though, she told me when I met her...'  
  
'Which was...?'  
  
'In the lift on the way up to her office.' Ginny stated plainly.  
  
'What were you doing there?' Asked Harry, smiling as he thought that he knew the answer.  
  
'I was waiting for her.'  
  
David Whorley had decided to ask Ginny on a date after he saw her working in his Uncle's chambers as his clerk. He retrospectively convinced himself that he was attracted to her personality and obvious intelligence (after all, she had managed to convince his uncle to work for him – which would take some doing). But he knew deep down that it was her looks that caught his eye, and everything else just happened to follow.  
  
Dave did not regard himself as stupid. After all, he had been in Ravenclaw two years above Ginny at Hogwarts. His OWLs and NEWTs were extremely respectable, and had got him a job in the ministry. He was hoping that he could work his way up to the top of the ministry, although he knew that it was a dream. To be minister, you had to not only have the brains, but also just to be at the right place at the right time to be picked. He would be satisfied just to be running a department, which, if he stayed where he was, was going to be the Department of Music. The dud job. The department that had no-one to aim its programmes to, as Hogwarts students didn't study any music. There had been the occasional musical there, but according to 'Hogwarts: A History' that had not happened since 1983.  
  
He was now twenty-one, and was considering the next stage of his life. Marriage was something that his mother cared passionately about, and he wanted to do to please her. She was an adorable woman – a muggle though, which concerned him a little. But he didn't let her non-magical ancestry stop him from loving her, but he didn't think that he could marry a muggle like she wanted him to. He was going to marry a witch. Luckily, he was dating a witch. But Ginny, brilliant though she was in all respects a girlfriend could be, was just a little too political for his tastes. This Chronos idea was stirring up problems in all levels at the ministry, even at his lowly level at the Department of Music. It was a recent development, as nobody had taken the idea of a real rival to the Prophet seriously until Potter had got involved.  
  
Potter was an investor that everybody wanted to attract, but not many people did. He had an eye for successful businesses, which had started with investing in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes whilst still at Hogwarts. Then he invested in the Chudley Cannons, enabling them to buy some new quidditch talent and actually start winning some matches. Numerous small enterprises had also benefited from Potter's purse – and as far as Dave knew, not one business Harry had invested in had failed. This was why Chronos was such a big deal.  
  
But Dave resented the idea of a publication out of the control of the ministry. The government would be out of control, what would happen if someone like the neo-Death Eaters gained control of the publication and started to brainwash people with their ideas? It was a possibility that he had proposed to Ginny over dinner the other night at his flat, and she had simply scoffed at the idea. He had wanted to try and talk about it again over lunch, but she was meeting with Potter. Again.  
  
'MINISTER PROPOSES LEGISLATION TO GAIN EXTRA CONTROL OVER HOGWARTS' So read the first headline of the first edition of the new, serious newspaper, 'Chronos'. The Daily Prophet on the same day had dedicated the front page to the story 'CHRONOS THREATENS TO DESTROY MINISTRY', which would have been a little melodramatic - if it weren't true.  
  
Unfortunately, in Ginny's zest, striving for a freer press, and Harry zesting right after her, the ministry had split right down the middle. The minister was determined to regain control over as much as he could, and the deputy was trying to give it all out again. Each department member had strong views, divided between supporting wholeheartedly, or deploring Chronos. There were few who held the middle ground. Harry had the awkward position of being partly responsible for the Chronos, whilst also being subordinate to the very people who he was upsetting. Dave had had the awkward position of developing a hatred for Ginny's occupation, and so told her to move out any things she had left in his flat the night before the first edition of Chronos came off the presses. She wept and spent the night alone in her flat.  
  
Hermione Granger had spent the entire evening with Ginny Weasley, comforting her after her boyfriend, Dave, had decided that she was too intelligent for him. That was how Hermione reasoned it in her head anyway. From trying to decipher meaning through Ginny's incoherent wailings, their relationship seemed perfect, which was more that could be said for her own relationship with Ron. She and Ron were often seen together, and did spend a lot of time together. They got on well – most of time. The problems came when they didn't get on, which led to rows, that led to a break up, that led to an amazing making up, and then...the circle began again. As Hermione sat with Ginny, she sighed for her own troubled love life.  
  
'I can't believe he did this the night before Chronos comes out!' Ginny exclaimed, wiping her nose with her sleeve. 'I should be at the office now, checking that everything is going to plan.'  
  
'I think that you should go Ginny, it isn't good for you to mope about here.'  
  
'You just want me out of your hair. Don't try and tell me otherwise,' Hermione closed her mouth. 'I know that you want to get back to Ron, and I don't blame you. If I were you I'd want to be with my boyfriend – if I still had one of course, and if he weren't a stupid, self obsessed minion.'  
  
Ginny stood up and straightened her clothes.  
  
'I'm off then.' With a quick check to see that her waterproof mascara hadn't run, Ginny apparated, leaving Hermione alone in her flat.  
  
Hermione knew that she should probably go to bed, she had an early start in the morning. She worked as a research assistant in the ministry's archives. It was a temporary position, and she most certainly did not work for the ministry. It was just something that she saw as a stepping post into work that suited her tastes a bit better. She had considered the law like Ginny, but when she tried to reconcile the thought of so few spare hours with the possibility of starting a family (she and Ron had been a bit steadier back then) it just wasn't possible. So Hermione's career choices had suffered, which pained her so much, especially when she saw Ron and Harry being so successful so quickly in their chosen careers. Although she had seen Harry looking a little frustrated recently. She had put it down to stress about Chronos, but when she had asked him about it, it seemed that he was a little uncomfortable about his work.  
  
'But you've always wanted to be an auror, Harry. How come it's not what you wanted it to be?'  
  
'Because I didn't realise how much my job was at the whim of some people who were under the minister's thumb.' Harry let out a long breath. 'Plus I get a bit bored sitting and doing paperwork. There are only so many risk assessments I can fill out, when it's someone's job to go out and risk themselves. I'm starting to think that my promotion was nothing more than a foil to get me out of the field, and out of the limelight.'  
  
'Surely that isn't possible? The ministry would want to have you saving the world some more, getting rid of evil people, all that jazz.'  
  
'You'd think so wouldn't you? Maybe... I think I'm getting a bit cynical in my old age.' Hermione snorted. 'But I was starting to kick up a bit of a fuss, and the minister certainly didn't like it.'  
  
'What does your boss say?'  
  
'Frank is the minister's poodle. Most of the aurors above my station are to be honest. They're all past it, and think that the minister can't be wrong – just because to contemplate the alternative would be too awful.'  
  
'Harry! What about Tonks? She's not past it, and she's superior to you. I can't believe you'd insult old friends.'  
  
'Tonks isn't superior to me any more.'  
  
'Did you get another promotion?' Hermione asked, curious. Ron hadn't said anything about this to her, nor had any other of their mutual friends. Harry nodded, and swallowed the gulp of coffee in his mouth.  
  
'Mm, yeah well it doesn't mean much. Tonks is a really high ranking field officer, but my new rank just means that I'm spending even more time in the office.'  
  
No – Hermione thought. Harry definitely wasn't happy in his job. The only person who seemed to be actually happy in their job was Ron, but at least Ginny had the potential to be. Hermione was jealous of Ginny's initiative, and had been very close several times to asking for a job on the Chronos team, but she knew that she would have been surplus to requirements. The people that they'd managed to draft in were efficient, and very good. Hermione knew that Harry and the other investors (Ginny didn't talk about them as much as she did about Harry) couldn't afford to support staff who had the lurking intention to get pregnant and married (in any order) at the first opportunity. With more not particularly cheering thoughts, Hermione went to bed.  
  
Harry on the other hand, was far from the end of his day. He was wide awake, and staying in the offices of the Chronos for the night – the first night – of its life as a real publication. The first edition would be coming off the presses in the next few hours, and he was enjoying himself watching everybody working so hard, determined to make this publication the very best they could.  
  
He was there, standing with Jeremy Grimsby-Herbert (another investor, a former executive for Nimbus). Harry had already had to put up with two hours of un-stimulating conversation with this man, interrupted only by frequent coffee breaks. Harry had known little about Mr Grimsby-Herbert tonight, but presumed (wrongly) that he would have been a person to talk to about quidditch. The only interest he had in the actual sport was how many people were playing, and which brooms they rode.  
  
'Firebolt! Nimbus 3002, much better. It's faster and can actually stop when and where you want it to, no sooner or later. Much better.' He had grumbled as Harry mentioned his school quidditch career.  
  
They stood silently now, Harry looking fervently around for Ginny. He only really came tonight to see her, and she hadn't even come. That was surprising, as the whole reason anything was happening was due entirely to her. Her organisational skills and determination astounded him, but then again, she rarely failed to astound him. He put her down as a very astounding woman.  
  
When she did finally come through the door, she looked a little tired, but as well turned out as ever. Harry went forward to greet her.  
  
'Everything going to plan?' She asked him immediately, looking around a little worried. 'Are there enough drinks and snacks and things for all the VIPs?'  
  
'Everything's perfect.' He assured her, guiding her near to the area where he had been. 'Are you ok, I was getting a little worried about you.' Ginny sat down and let her face fall a bit.  
  
'Dave dumped me because of the paper.'  
  
'What!' Harry exclaimed, wide eyed. He was becoming more outraged as he took in Ginny's passivity and resignation to the fact that her ex boyfriend was an inconsiderate prig. 'Why? When? Why would he do that to you?'  
  
'You're very sweet to be concerned Harry, but really it's just that we weren't right for each other. It's probably better that this happened sooner rather than later – means that we don't waste any time.'  
  
'That's one way of looking at it.' Harry said, unconvinced.  
  
'Don't worry about me,' Ginny said, 'let's just enjoy our day of triumph over adversity.' She summoned over two glasses of champagne, and they privately toasted the future of Chronos, and the future of their successful collaboration.  
  
Sales figures steadily rose as the weeks passed, and Harry found his work becoming excessively dull. As he sat at his desk, writing the last in a long series of memos to the Department of Muggle Interests regarding muggle- wizard relations, the fire in his grate started burning.  
  
'Hello?' He said curiously, a little concerned too, as the last person to contact him in this way was Neville Longbottom to ask how he was supposed to propose to his girlfriend Luna Lovegood. It was definitely an outmoded device, now only used for obviously urgent calls.  
  
'Potter? Is that you? This is the minister.' Came a crackly voice, strained and a pitch higher than sounded natural.  
  
'Yes sir, what can I do for you?' The minister? Harry wondered what he could possibly want, considering that the minister apparently loathed Harry.  
  
'I need you to get as many aurors as possible down to the debating chamber as soon as possible. I think that I may have a rebellion on my hands.'  
  
'A rebellion sir?' Harry had, after all, always thought that the minister was a little prone to exaggeration. After all, what politician wasn't?  
  
'It's that blasted Frederica Gorgie! Just get down here as soon as you can if you don't want an assassination.'  
  
'May I ask where you are now sir, so as to prevent accidental, er, accidents?' Harry was trying hard not to smirk, even though he knew that the situation had to be pretty bad for the minister to risk calling him, and not those senior to him.  
  
'For goodness' sake!' Harry heard some indignant spluttering. 'I'm in the cupboard, just don't aim any spells at the cupboard, you hear Potter?'  
  
'I'm on my way.'  
  
Harry closed the connection and re-opened it to call on as many aurors as he thought would be necessary. A rebellion it may be – but a debating chamber could not fit five hundred fully trained and excited aurors in there, as well as rebellious politicians. It was going to have to be fifty...but Harry had a few problems in getting that few, as many regiments were refusing to serve. Harry noted their names, and got angrier and angrier until by the time he exploded into the debating hall on the top level of the ministry he was ready to hurt somebody very seriously.  
  
He threw the double doors open – there was no locking charm on them – at the head of a regiment of aurors. The scene he encountered was one that he would always recall with a smile on his face. Frederica Gorgie was sitting calmly in the minister's chair, reading out a list of names. She paused when she saw Harry come in.  
  
'Ah, hello Harry. Did Robert call you up? No need, we're not being violent.' There was silence, as all of the politicians (different heads of departments) all turned to see how the aurors would react.  
  
'What is going on?' Harry raised his wand slightly, but not enough to be threatening, just enough to show that he was on his guard.  
  
'The former minister, Mr Kretz, tried to pass a bill today that would have given him the power to censor all published material. It had a clause that....hold on a minute, I'll read it. 'All those responsible for publishing material the Minister of Magic deems against the interests of the Ministry of Magic would be declared a criminal, to be tried in a court of law.' Bad stuff, don't you think Potter, especially as this implicates you?' Frederica's steely gaze looked down on Harry.  
  
'Bad indeed. But my loyalty here is to the minister, so I have to ask. Why are you in the Minister's seat?'  
  
'Good thing that your loyalty's to the minister Potter, for I am the minister.' Frederica smiled down at Harry, and the majority of the politicians in the hall cheered. Harry looked back at the aurors who all looked as confused as he felt. 'It was voted upon here that due to Robert Kretz's illegal use of his powers, he should have those powers taken away. At that point he ran into the cupboard over there,' the minister pointed at a cupboard in the corner of the room 'and he hasn't emerged since. Anyhow, I was appointed minister and was just reading out who was going to help me govern.'  
  
'What do we do Sir?' a voice from behind Harry asked. He turned around to face those behind him.  
  
'Nothing. All that has happened here is legal, if a little strange. You,' he said, pointing at a young woman wearing brown and orange robes, 'go and organise a press conference to be held in an hour's time. Invite as many newspapers as you can.' The woman nodded and scurried out. 'The rest of you are dismissed.' The aurors left the hall, chatting amongst themselves, annoyed that for a rebellion, it wasn't very exciting.  
  
Harry followed them out of the hall without another word, thoroughly confused. It seemed that the political downfall of ex-minister Kretz had been well co-ordinated, but he had heard nothing previously about it. But now that it had happened – Harry was happy to leave the ex-minister in his cupboard to skulk.  
  
He discovered when he started sending out owls from the moment that he reached his desk, that many of the aurors who were above him in the pecking order had resigned their commissions when they heard the minister had been deposed, and had left the building too soon to be of any use to him when he was calling them from the cupboard. The officers who were in charge of regiments were too confused about where their loyalties were supposed to lie to do anything, and so refused to be called into action by Harry. Everyone was very eager to talk now that the state of affairs were becoming a little clearer.  
  
Harry sat back in his chair and conjured a cup of coffee, and felt that he deserved it. Of course, before he took even a sip, somebody knocked on the door and walked in.  
  
The tall figure of the new minister walked in. Her brown hair was arranged in a bun far too close to the top of her head for Harry's taste, but she looked very dignified. 'Harry, you were next on my list.'  
  
'What for?' He asked, feeling a creeping feeling in his gut that he was going to be 'promoted' to another desk job.  
  
Frederica smiled. 'You're a good auror, but you're wasted here. I would like you to work for me, as my deputy.'  
  
'Deputy?' Harry was dumbstruck. 'Deputy minister? Are you serious?'  
  
'Absolutely, after all, the ministry needs somebody with their head on their shoulders to run this place. You know what needs to be done, you've been in charge of a lot of the reforms that have taken place at your level.'  
  
'But Freddie – what does a deputy actually do? I'm terrible at politics, I can fight. That's about it.'  
  
'You don't need to do much to be honest, you can make the position your own.'  
  
'Can I research dark arts groups?'  
  
'Of course!' Frederica looked delighted, and grinned. 'Whatever you like! Listen to me Harry, this ministry of magic has been corrupted over centuries by self-seeking politicians. The Chronos newspaper has sparked the desire in me, and the wizarding community of the UK, to reform. We're stuck in the Victorian era – I'm asking you to help in any way you can to bring us out of this rut.' Harry considered the offer. Phrased like that, she was offering him the chance to change everything in the wizarding community he despised.  
  
'I'd love to help.'  
  
Ginny looked at Harry over her glass, drinking Champagne with him to celebrate his appointment in his flat.  
  
'So what did you want to talk about?' She asked, sipping delicately on the flute.  
  
'I can't possibly fund the newspaper any more, it's too political.' Harry looked genuinely sorry, but he couldn't help with plucking out corruption if he was a government minister funding a newspaper.  
  
'Absolutely, I was going to fire your money anyway for being too dirty.'  
  
They smiled at each other. They loved being in each other's company, and they knew it. When Harry had invited her over tonight, they both knew that it couldn't just be for drinks, otherwise they would be out with Ron and Hermione too. As far as Ginny could guess, Harry hadn't even told those two about his appointment yet. They would have to find out from tomorrow morning's edition of Chronos – the same edition that Harry and Ginny would also receive in bed as they woke up next to each other.  
  
AN: well, that was a new style for me! I hope that you enjoyed it. Eli. 


End file.
